Surrender to It review – insufferable bunch of actors reconnect for hiking weekend of pain and comedy

2026-03-24 - 11:10

There are echoes here of 1992’s Peter’s Friends, and given this thriller’s preposterous script and amateurish production it is likely to generate similar levels of disdain Writer-director Tim Bryn Smith clearly never got the memo, drafted immediately after the waves of derision that greeted luvvie-fest Peter’s Friends back in 1992, that any film revolving around a bunch of friends who are or were formerly actors having a reunion is fair game for sneering, sniping and all kinds of eye-rolling disdain. Because no one really likes watching actors playing actors, despite the recent Oscar win for Sentimental Value. But Bryn Smith and his chums apparently haven’t read the room, so here’s the damn near insufferable Surrender to It, which revolves around a motley collection of ageing would-be thespians who all met at a drama workshop back in the day reuniting for a hiking weekend. The script, credited to Bryn Smith and Chris Wetton, feels like it rose out of a bunch of improv exercises and random suggestions fished out of a hat. One strand involves bereaved couple Dani (Daemian Greaves, the best of a very average lot in terms of performances here) and Celena (Melissa May Smith) who are mourning their dead son. While this is handled with some sensitivity, the maudlin tone doesn’t mix at all well with the supposedly comic subplots that occupy the rest of the running time. These focus on the other (highly unlikely) former best buds that include Ram (Fletcher Graham) who’s gone on to become a big-time movie star recovering from a recent scandal in the manner of Johnny Depp who has one hanger-on with him (Alexander Rose). Hugo (Bryn Smith) is meant to be the talent that never flourished who harbours deep feelings for another member of the group, but not the one you might think. There’s influencer Evie (Chantelle Lee) who has her own secret feelings for one of the cohort, and her pal Chrissy (Clare Alexandra Isabelle McGill) who is being courted by a gigolo with a ridiculous Latin accent whom we never meet. Dopey Timmy (Ben Grace) wants everyone to help him find treasure hidden by his recently deceased father. Continue reading...